Community cinema going from strength to strength

A community cinema in Laurencekirk is going from strength to strength – with plans for season tickets, foreign language films and a Mearns-based film festival under discussion.

The Mearns Community Cinema group is run by volunteers from Laurencekirk and the surrounding areas.

The cinema’s movie nights have proved extremely popular while family events and special screenings of classic movies have also gone down a storm.

Chairman Jamie Leigh said 2018 promises to be an exciting time with a number of ideas being bounced about by the team.

The volunteer group is based at Mearns Community Campus where the latest movie shown on Friday was Pride as part of the cinema’s celebration of LGBT History Month.

“2018 promises to be an exciting time and we have a number of plans that we will all be working hard to bring to fruition,” said Jamie.

“Firstly, the return of the Saturday afternoon family film slot.

“It was always popular and with the winter weather causing many a weekend plan to be dashed, where better than the local cinema to spend a couple of hours?

“Other than that, we are hoping to run more events with local businesses in order to further support the local community.

“We are also hoping to show films from different genres to ensure that the whole community feels represented by the group.

“We are particularly keen to show some foreign language and more independent films.

“We have plenty of other ideas and dreams bouncing about, not least the possibility of season tickets and/or a Mearns based film festival.

“They both need a good deal more consideration but I think it’s fair to say the group has plenty of enthusiasm when it comes to making the cinema a convenient, inclusive and top quality facility for the community.”

Mr Leigh also paid tribute to the Mearns public for the ongoing support they have shown for the cinema group which he said was appreciated massively.

“We hope we are providing a cinema that the community is proud of,” he added.